


Song Drabbles

by BainAduial



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: M/M, songfics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 17:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1718261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BainAduial/pseuds/BainAduial
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My response to a general song drabble challenge issued on the Marcus/Neroon Yahoo Group. Rules are in the notes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Song Drabbles

**Author's Note:**

> The Rules:  
> 1\. Take Marcus and Neroon writer may use other characters  
> 2\. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.  
> 3\. Write a drabble/ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!  
> 4\. Do ten of these, then post them.  
> 5\. Once you have posted the 10 drabbles members of the list then can take a vote on which of the 10 was their favorite. Once a favorite has been picked then you must write a short or long story on that one drabble only. 
> 
> Except I did 11 because apparently I can't count.
> 
> Some of these did eventually make it into my Minbari Courtship universe, too. Including my answer to #5, which ended up becoming The Cage, so you'll have to go over there to read it.

1) Kingdom for a Heart by Sonata Arctica (good place to start!)

Marcus looked at Neroon across their crossed pikes, the silence in the wake of their private bout ringing in his ears. 

”I’m sorry,” the human said quietly, stunned by the Warrior’s confession of only moments ago. A confession Marcus strongly suspected had been torn from the depths f Neroon’s soul without the Warrior’s conscious consent.

“For what?” Neroon asked, dark eyes showing none of whatever he was feeling.

“If I had a heart to give, I would give it to you. And I would give any riches, any crowns, any kingdom on earth to have a heart to give to you. But I’m fresh out of kingdoms, and crowns, and all the riches I might once have had disappeared in Shadow. I have nothing left to give.”

“I do not believe you have no heart,” Neroon countered, staring deeply into his eyes. “I believe it is buried, but I believe it is alive. And I will give you kingdoms for you to throw away, if that is your wish, to help you find it again.”

 

2) Lucky by Britney Spears (no comment…)

“She’s lucky,” Marcus opined, watching a glamorous human figure walk through the Zocalo, the crowd parting before her.

“Who is she?” Neroon asked his mala, enjoying their quiet and all-too-rare breakfast together.

“A movie star from earth. She’s here on some kind of promotional tour. I used to think it would be amazing to have what she does; fame, fortune, everyone in the universe knowing her name and loving her.”

“Do they love her, or an image?” Neroon asked. “I do not think it is lucky, to be constantly playing a role. I doubt she can ever be herself.”

The actress was passing near their table, and Marcus shrugged, trying to turn the conversation aside, but she’d already heard Neroon’s comment.

“Thank you for that,” she smiled, bending down to speak quietly to them. “Few ever realize how lonely the spotlight is.”

 

3) Gramma Got Run Over By A Reindeer by Weird Al Yankovich (I have eclectic musical tastes, okay?)

Marcus didn’t notice the doors to their private sitting room in the Star Riders estate open, he was so occupied in the song he was belting at the top of his lungs as he strung the Minbari version of tinsel on the Minbari version of a pine tree. It wasn’t quite Christmas, but it sort of worked.

Neroon stood watching his mala for several long moments, eyebrow ridges rising further and further in incredulity as he listened to the lyrics the human was singing. What on earth was a reindeer? Who was this Santa? And why was Marcus so cheerful about his grandmother’s death? It made no sense.

Marcus reached the end of the song about the same time as he noticed that Neroon was watching him, the expression on his face truly worthy of the old-earth phrase ‘Kodak moment’. Marcus stopped dead for a moment in embarrassment before doubling over in laughter.

 

4) The Cage by Sonata Arctica (every so often, despite having hundreds of songs and bands to choose from, my player seems to get stuck on one… usually when I’m doing something similar to this. It’s most odd. It’s also always a band I don’t actually listen to often… stupid possessed musicshuffler.)

Wild music filled Marcus’ mind, pushing out all other thoughts. He preferred it that way. With the shrieking, pounding rhythms filling him like blood, driving his actions, he could not be stopped by any weapon of his enemies. They could not penetrate beyond the wilderness he had created within his mind, thorn forest of guitar riffs, plunging cliffs of drum cadences, roaring rivers of synthesizers whirling them about even as they tried to steal the only thing he had left after his years in the service of the very men now out to destroy him.

“He’s still resisting,” one of his adversaries commented, pulling off a smooth black glove to get closer to Marcus’ innermost thoughts. 

Marcus smiled ferally, and shoved his human self even farther back, throwing the wildness into the psi-cop’s mind, tearing it to shreds even as it sought beneath the EFI agent’s strange defences to find the information the corp. needed. The black-clad telepath stiffened and fell back, locked into a whirling maelstrom in his own mind. 

His compatriots stood back, and Marcus laughed loudly, wildly.

“Set me free,” He commanded, eyes glowing eerily in the strange light they used in their interrogation rooms. “Or I’ll take you all with me.”

 

5) Forever by DEE DEE (erm… I blame my ex? What the hell is up with this song?)

Neroon rose from his sleeping platform and wrapped a thick winter robe around himself before wandering out to the stone balcony attached to his sitting room, looking out over the snow-covered grounds of the Star Riders estate. He was sorely in need of advice, and did not know whom to turn to.

He had meditated, as his mother had suggested when she sensed that her only son was troubled in heart, even though he refused to tell her the cause. The meditation did not help. He was certain, whatever else came, that the love he felt for the young human Ranger who had faced death so bravely was true. He wanted, more than he had wanted anything in good long while, to spend forever with the strange, complex alien who had turned his world upside down.

But every time he approached Marcus, the human deliberately misunderstood. Neroon did not know what he ran from, but as he stood there under Minbar’s comforting and familiar stars, he vowed that the vision he saw of a long future together would come true. Somehow, he’d find a way to convince the human of the rightness of this path. There was no other acceptable outcome; not for Neroon, not – in his opinion – for Marcus. And not, he increasingly believed, for Minbar.

 

6) My Confession by Josh Groban (very Marcus… in my opinion, anyway!)

Marcus knelt quietly in the chapel on Babylon 5, long after it was closed for services for the day. He had chosen a simple wooden cross from the cabinet of implements left for the use of those who came seeking peace from which ever god they followed, and hung it on the wall in a place that reminded him of the little wooden chapel in his mother’s village on earth, a chapel he had visited only once, long ago, on a quiet Christmas eve.

It was not Christmas eve now; here on the station, seasons hardly mattered, but according to the church calendar that Marcus barely remembered, it was no time in particular. Which was good, he supposed; in the lead up to the great holidays, the chapel was often full even in the off-hours. But now, he was alone.

He knelt, and looked up at the cross, but kept his prayers silent until he heard the door open behind him, signalling the entrance of the one he had invited, but had not truly expected to come. Neroon had been hinting at something the past couple of weeks, and Marcus thought he understood, but he wanted to be sure. If he had misread the situation, Neroon could leave, and neither of them would ever speak of this night again.

Marcus desperately hoped he was not wrong, as he opened his mouth and began to speak. “I can no longer hide what I feel, from myself or from others. I feel my heart turning away from the darkness it has resided in for so long, falling into grace – and into love.” He turned bright green eyes up to the Minbari in the doorway. “Please, hear my confession.”

 

7) A Return to the Sea by Nightwish (Okay, seriously, any song with ‘trilobyte’ in the lyrics wins hardcore… but damn, it was hard to come up with an idea for this one!)

Marcus stood proudly board one of the White Star fleet, watching as the last battle of the Shadow War came to a close. A star – a White Star, that is – fell from the darkened sky to his left, blazing brightly in the back before fading out, destroyed. The Shadows screeched, and Marcus took savage pleasure in sending his weapons after them, swearing as the cease-fire order rang throughout the bridge. He watched as the Vorlons, Shadows, and First Ones, up until now the bitterest enemies, turned from the younger races.

They banded together as they moved off, and Marcus shook his head, cursing. For this quiet defeat, his world had died? For this quiet defeat, entire planets had been razed to ash? For this silent, un-remarked departure, White Stars had blazed as brightly as the stellar phenomena for which they were named before falling into the darkness?

No. It could not end this way. And yet it was, and Marcus was bound by oaths to his commanders and to his dead to allow it to pass, without interference. He ground his teeth.

“And so the strong survive, and wander off, and the weak pick up the pieces,” Neroon’s voice came, sarcastic and tiny, through the receiver in Marcus’ ear. 

Marcus snorted. “I’d never have called you weak.”

“Against them? We all are little more than insects, and there is no shame in admitting that there are powers greater than us in this universe. But look, Marcus. Look to your viewscreen. What do you see?”

Marcus shook his head. “Coriana 6.”

“No. Look harder. A sun rises above a world that now has a chance to live; it is a new beginning.”

 

8) Return to Innocence by Enigma (I actually did it! I wrote a story about Marcus on the theme of innocence that didn’t mention his virginity!… crap, I just mentioned it.)

Marcus rose from his morning meditation, bathed in the sunlight of his mother’s world. He smiled up at the Minbari who was guarding him, impatient strength coiled tightly under a layer of serenity. 

“Thank you, for coming here with me,” Marcus said softly, accepting a hand to his feet and leaning only a little on Neroon’s arm and the sturdy cane Stephen had given him. 

“You would have come alone, and broken more than your leg,” Neroon countered. “Do not be afraid to be weak, Marcus.”

Marcus shook his head, smiling up at his husband of some fifteen years now. “No, that is not my problem today. Today, I am fighting the pride that insists I am still as strong as any young Ranger. My leg will never recover from this mission, Neroon. I am grounded now.”

Neroon bowed his agreement, as they walked down the soothing forest path together. “Yes. Will you finally accept the teaching position they have been offering you?”

 

9) Ironic by Alanis Morissette (This song makes me giggle almost as much as Marcus is giggling in this fic)

Neroon shook his head. “This lesson is absurd. I asked you to teach me the subtleties of standard, not to teach me about your bizarre musical history.”

Marcus chuckled, and paused the recording. “I am. Humans often employ a device called irony; it’s a major part of many of our legends, and appears often in conversation.”

“I do not understand this song, then,” Neroon countered. “Or I do not understand the definition of irony that you provided me.”

Marcus chuckled. “What exactly is the problem?” he asked, enjoying the conversation immensely. When Neroon had offered to help keep him from boredom in the aftermath of their denn’shah, he had hardly expected the Warrior to hang about in medlab asking for lessons in standard, but that was precisely what had happened.

“Take the – chorus, you call it? Rain on your wedding day is not ironic. It is a lack of planning, and it is annoying. And who in Valen’s name owns ten thousand forks?”

Marcus’ chuckles grew into full-blown laughter. “Now you get it! The real irony of the song is that NOTHING in it is actually ironic!”

Neroon could only shake his head.

 

10) Only Time by Enya (This song is very B5 somehow…)

“Sho what you’sh shaying,” Marcus slurred, supremely intoxicated and sprawled all over Susan Ivanova’s lovely floor, “Ish that my heart growsh?”

“Yup,” the commander and most fearsome woman in the quadrant agreed, taking another gulp of whatever the hell it was she’d pulled out of the liquor cabinet. She’d lost track shortly after they polished off her combined supply of run, vodka, and ouzo, and had moved on to the more exotic, occasionally alien, and frequently confiscated on grounds of legality stash that she kept further back.

“But why?” Marcus whined, turning to peer at her upside down.

“Time,” Ivanova responded, waving a hand vaguely. “It’s all time. You know. Like, time. You love, you don’t, you hurt, you heal, it’s all time.”

“Wow,” Marcus commented. “Time’s big.”

“Yup,” Ivanova agreed again. “So’s Neroon.”

 

11) God Help the Outcasts – Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack (Version 1) (I had to write two endings for this drabble… My brain couldn’t decide)

Marcus stood quietly beside Neroon, both of them wrapped warmly against the chill, and lifted his arm to offer yet another in an endless line of soup bowls to cold, thin hands reaching out to seize it. Neroon offered a small loaf of bread to accompany it, and the ritual began again. 

They’d been at it for several hours now, and would remain for several more, until the last poor soul was fed. Marcus’ mother had performed this mercy for the poor of earth every year of her life, first experiencing it as a babe bound tightly to her mother’s back and charming all of those who came, on Christmas day, to get the first hot meal they’d had in weeks. It had not been a fortunate time on earth, during the economic upheaval that followed their entry into the intergalactic sphere, and many had needed more help than earthgov could give. 

His mother had continued the ritual until her death, and her husband and sons had learned from her. And now Marcus stood here, on a foreign world beside his foreign mate, with his own daughter sleeping quietly on Neroon’s shoulder, and his mother-in-law ensuring all had a seat in the warm hall and a kind word from the priestess of the Star Riders Clan as the refugees from a dozen war zones touched down in the Star Riders estate for a night before heading on to more permanent accommodations.

He could not heal the universe, and he no longer believed in a god that could; he had seen too much for that. But here and now, he could offer a warm bowl of soup and a smile to those who, like himself, were outcaste from their world. And maybe, just maybe, that was enough.

 

11) God Help the Outcasts – Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack (Version 2)

Marcus stood quietly beside Neroon, both of them wrapped warmly against the chill, and lifted his arm to offer yet another in an endless line of soup bowls to cold, thin hands reaching out to seize  
it. Neroon offered a small loaf of bread to accompany it, and the ritual began again.

They'd been at it for several hours now, and would remain for several more, until the last poor soul was fed. Marcus' mother had performed this mercy for the poor of earth every year of her life, first experiencing it as a babe bound tightly to her mother's back and charming all of those who came, on Christmas day, to get the first hot meal they'd had in weeks. It had not been a fortunate time on earth, during the economic upheaval that followed their entry into the intergalactic sphere, and many had needed more help than earthgov could give.

His mother had continued the ritual until her death, and her husband and sons had learned from her. And now Marcus stood here, on a foreign world beside his foreign mate, with his own daughter sleeping quietly on Neroon's shoulder, as the refugees from a dozen war zones  
touched down in the hidden refugee camp. It was basic, catering only to the simplest of needs, but for those whose paths forced them here it was almost paradise. And if they remembered better times, on better worlds, they never spoke of them. This was home, now.

He could not heal the universe, and he no longer believed in a god that could; he had seen too much for that. But here and now, he could offer a warm bowl of soup and a smile to those who, like himself, were outcaste from whatever world - or worlds - they had once called home. And maybe, just maybe, tonight, that was enough.


End file.
